1,171 research outputs found
Variations of auroral hydrogen emission near substorm onset
The results of coordinated optical ground-based observations of the auroral substorm on 26 March 2004 in the Kola Peninsula are described. Imaging spectrograph data with high spectral and temporal resolution recorded the Doppler profile of the Hα hydrogen emission; this allows us to estimate the average energy of precipitating protons and the emission intensity of the hydrogen Balmer line. Two different populations of precipitating protons were observed during an auroral substorm. The first of these is associated with a diffuse hydrogen emission that is usually observed in the evening sector of the auroral oval and located equatorward of the discrete electron arcs associated with substorm onset. The average energy of the protons during this precipitation was ~20–35 keV, and the energy flux was ~3x10<sup>–4</sup>Joule/m<sup>2</sup>s. The second proton population was observed 1–2min after the breakup during 4–5min of the expansion phase of substorm into the zone of bright, discrete auroral structures (N-S arcs). The average energy of the protons in this population was ~60 keV, and the energy flux was ~2.2x10<sup>–3</sup>Joule/m<sup>2</sup>s. The observed spatial structure of hydrogen emission is additional evidence of the higher energy of precipitated protons in the second population, relative to the protons in the diffuse aurora. We believe that the most probable mechanism of precipitation of the second population protons was pitch-angle scattering of particles due to non-adiabatic motion in the region of local dipolarization near the equatorial plane.<p><b>Keywords.</b> Auroral ionosphere; Particle precipitation; Storms and substorm
Distinct Scaling Regimes of Energy Release Dynamics in the Nighttime Magnetosphere
Based on a spatiotemporal analysis of POLAR UVI images, we show that the
auroral emission events that initiate equatorward of the isotropic boundary
(IB) obtained from a time-dependent empirical model, have systematically
steeper power-law slopes of energy, power, area and lifetime probability
distributions compared to the events that initiate poleward of the IB. The
low-latitude group of events contains a distinct subpopulation of
substorm-scale disturbances violating the power-law behavior, while the high
latitude group is described by nearly perfect power-law statistics over the
entire range of scales studied. The results obtained indicate that the inner
and outer portions of the plasma sheet are characterized by substantially
different scaling regimes of bursty energy dissipation suggestive of different
physics in these regions.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Frequencies of wave packets of whistler-mode chorus inside its source region: a case study
Whistler-mode chorus is a structured wave emission observed in the Earth's magnetosphere in a frequency range from a few hundreds of Hz to several kHz. We investigate wave packets of chorus using high-resolution measurements recorded by the WBD instrument on board the four Cluster spacecraft. A night-side chorus event observed during geomagnetically disturbed conditions is analyzed. We identify lower and upper frequencies for a large number of individual chorus wave packets inside the chorus source region. We investigate how these observations are related to the central position of the chorus source which has been previously estimated from the Poynting flux measurements. We observe typical frequency bandwidths of chorus of approximately 10% of the local electron cyclotron frequency. Observed time scales are around 0.1 s for the individual wave packets. Our results indicate a lower occurrence probability for lower frequencies in the vicinity of the central position of the source compared to measurements recorded closer to the outer boundaries of the source. This is in agreement with recent research based on the backward wave oscillator theory
Observations of the relationship between frequency sweep rates of chorus wave packets and plasma density
International audience[1] Chorus emissions are generated by a nonlinear mechanism involving wave‐particle interactions with energetic electrons. Discrete chorus wave packets are narrowband tones usually rising (sometimes falling) in frequency. We investigate frequency sweep rates of chorus wave packets measured by the Wideband data (WBD) instrument onboard the Cluster spacecraft. In particular, we study the relationship between the sweep rates and the plasma density measured by the WHISPER active sounder. We have observed increasing values of the sweep rate for decreasing plasma densities. We have compared our results with results of simulations of triggered emissions as well as with estimates based on the backward wave oscillator model for chorus emissions. We demonstrate a reasonable agreement of our experimental results with theoretical ones. Citation: Macúšová, E., et al. (2010), Observations of the relationship between frequency sweep rates of chorus wave packets and plasma density
Evaluation of a space-observed electric field structure for the ability to destabilize inhomogeneous energy-density-driven waves
Relative luminosity measurement of the LHC with the ATLAS forward calorimeter
In this paper it is shown that a measurement of the relative luminosity
changes at the LHC may be obtained by analysing the currents drawn from the
high voltage power supplies of the electromagnetic section of the forward
calorimeter of the ATLAS detector. The method was verified with a reproduction
of a small section of the ATLAS forward calorimeter using proton beams of known
beam energies and variable intensities at the U-70 accelerator at IHEP in
Protvino, Russia. The experimental setup and the data taking during a test beam
run in April 2008 are described in detail. A comparison of the measured high
voltage currents with reference measurements from beam intensity monitors shows
a linear dependence on the beam intensity. The non-linearities are measured to
be less than 0.5 % combining statistical and systematic uncertainties.Comment: 16 page
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